Friday, April 3, 2009

We are delighted announce that Josef Hoflehner has been nominated for Prix Pictet 2009 - Earth.

The Prix Pictet, the world's first prize dedicated to photography and sustainability, is sponsored by Pictet & Cie, in association with the Financial Times, and has a single annual prize of annual prize of CHF 100,000. The prize has a unique mandate - to use the power of photography to communicate vital messages to a global audience. It is a unique goal - art of the highest order, applied to confront the pressing social and environmental challenges of the new millennium.

Awarding the inaugural Prix Pictet to Canadian photographer Benoit Aquin last October, Kofi Annan, Prix Pictet's Honorary President, said: "It is my hope that the Prix Pictet will help to deepen understanding of the changes taking place in our world and raise public awareness about the urgency of taking preventative action."

'Earth' in this context refers not only to the planet and the soil beneath our feet, but also to the marks that man makes on the face of the land-either directly by creating mines, toxic waste, vast refuse dumps and blasted desert landscapes; or indirectly, through the scars left by fire, flood or famine. It also refers to the impact of natural disasters: earthquakes, landslides and volcanoes.